McCain Vets Staff for Lobbying Ties

Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign is vetting its own staff members’ lobbyist connections—scurrilous or otherwise—after two aides recently left the campaign when questions arose over their prior lobbying work for Myanmar’s military junta.

The Atlantic reported Thursday night that campaign manager Rick Davis, himself a former lobbyist, is asking staffers to disclose any past or current ties to lobbying activity or outside political groups, such as 527s, to be vetted by their legal team in an effort to head off any future embarrassing staff revelations for the Arizona senator. (See Davis’s memo to the McCain staff.)

A Democratic outside group, MoveOn.org, is targeting another McCain campaign senior aide in a new Web ad asking their supporters to call for the ousting of longtime Washington insider Charlie Black, who until recently was a lobbyist for BKSH Worldwide.

The ad charges that Black’s firm “made millions lobbying for the world’s worst tyrants,” including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire. “Charlie Black said he didn’t do anything wrong,” the ad states. “John McCain should tell Black he did.”

A spokesman for the McCain campaign deferred to the Republican National Committee for comment. “This is the sort of outrageous personal smear job we’ve come to expect from MoveOn.org,” a spokesman for the RNC said, “Barack Obama’s failure to condemn his closest supporters from running these kinds of attacks is evidence of his weak leadership and undermines everything his campaign is supposed to be about.”

Another anti-McCain liberal outfit, Progressive Media USA is also going after Black and other current or former lobbyists tied to the campaign.

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